The End of Heroes
by Sam Wannell
Summary: The Story of the last week of the Vietnam War
1. Prologue

29th April 1975, North Vietnam, Day 7120

I knew we were losing; the bullet had hit me straight between the shoulder blades. I wasn't going to make it, tell my family I love them and tell my friends I am sorry anyone. Can anyone hear me over all the gunfire and the explosions? They knew our tactics and I know we aren't going to last for much longer. Goodbye.


	2. Chapter 1

**The End of Heroes**

22nd April 1975, South Vietnam, Day 7113

"Sashall!" the Staff Sergeant roared.

I sat bolt upright in my bed and looked around. Shit! I had woken up late again. I could see the bright sun through the windows shining upon Staff Sergeant Hallard's face. He was a large man, at least six foot four with shoulders that would rival a bear's. His face had a large scar from where a Charlie scout had slashed him. He had lost his eye in that incident so now he just had a white eye that chilled you to the bone.

I am Private Dean Sashall. I was an average guy, six foot, one hundred and forty pounds and nothing special, especially next to the monster that was Hallard. My head was shaven like everyone else that had been put in this war and my eyes were a fading grey blue that had experienced loss and been on the edge of death.

I knew the platoon was waiting for me they were dressed and ready to go. I jumped on to the cold concrete floor and put on my khaki uniform and hard leather boots in record time. Hallard stared into my soul like a daemon. I shivered on the spot and quickly joined my platoon.

"Are you alright?" Private Jane Samson enquired "You were swearing and sweating like a guilty man in court."

"Just some nightmares that's all." I replied "Y'know, it just feels like we're losing and we cannot win." Samson nodded and sighed. We walked across base camp under the boiling spring sun and headed towards where the Lieutenant would give us our orders. In a perfect rank we marched like a weak wall of skittles ready to be knocked down by the guerrillas. We all knew we would be lucky to survive but we had grown to accept that. Our friends had been lost, I had lost my brother, Freddy Morgan.

She was an average height woman but she had tricked the recruitment office into thinking she was a guy. Her hair was short but she had a fringe that would slip down and cover her eyes. She wasn't as strong as the majority of us but her shot was better than any man I had met; this made her a valuable soldier. Her brown eyes were sharp and pierced into my soul more than Hallard's but in a loving way. I liked her, she always had a happiness about her that kept me sane and made me glad that I had a chance of getting home, and her smile was beautiful we were always together. I had found out that she was a woman when I walked in on her showering under a local waterfall that we go to every so often. We weren't meant to shower there but she always said that she had showered with the other platoons. We liked each other and that was blatantly obvious but there was girl back home in Pennsylvania I liked just as much and this made me feel deep inside like I was cheating on her, even though we weren't together in anyway. I missed her blonde hair and smile but I knew that right now Jane held a bigger place in my heart.

We finally arrived at where the Lieutenant would give us our orders.

"Right, we have found an enemy camp two minutes north of our position and thankfully for you our spy planes have given us Intel that suggests that the area is clear of traps and possible ambush sites, however; that does not mean we can be asleep negligent, these Charlies are sneaky and will cut your throat in an instant. You will hold at one mile off of the camp." The Lieutenant said.

"Sir, why don't we just napalm the hell out of that place?" Hallard queried. The Lieutenant sighed.

"Scouts have told us that there is a possibility of Intel of an attack on our base. You will attack in a week's time." Hallard's strong face moulded into a sea of worry that none of our platoon had seen before. The atmosphere of the area went cold even under the warm Vietnam sun. "Platoon dismissed."

I felt as if we had been sentenced to swim with concrete and as I dragged my feet back to our building. I looked over to Jane with dread in my blue eyes. We knew what had happened to the last platoon that had been sent to deal with a death trap like that; they had all died. It had been straight up slaughter, they were like livestock just taken out of this world. We sat on our slab beds just looking into each other's souls knowing what would happen. Neither of us thought that we were going to win this war, neither of us thought it was worth worrying about some Intel on an attack that would go ahead whether they had _their_ inter or not and neither of us wanted to be sent home in a box.

I walked over to our radio and switched it on. _Sympathy for the Devil_ played out across the camp. I smiled. Music always sent me to a place where I could just relax and take my mind off of everything. I looked across to Samson. She was sitting on her bed staring at the floor despairingly. I looked at her face and could only see sadness and worry, no sunshine-esque smile or twinkle in her eye, just an unknown emptiness. I sat down beside her and put my arm around her shoulders, I saw a tear roll down her soft cheek.

"Dean," she murmured softly, "you were right, we're all going to die. We're like targets on a firing range for those people, and the thing is they're humans too. Why are we fighting ourselves Dean?" She burst into tears. I pulled her into my chest and stroked her satin hair.

"I am not going to lie to you Jane." I said trying to hold back the tears. "But…but there is still a chance we come out of this alive. Remember the first day we met, we made a deal that we wouldn't give up until we died." She nodded limply, she had become a like a little girl in the face of the ghosts in her dreams at this war. She had been strong but she was tiring. "And the only reason I can think of to explain why we're fighting is called politics." Her smooth lips' corner slowly bent into a smile, tears left rivers of sadness behind on her face. I started to sing the lyrics of _The Rolling Stones_ into her ear gently, caressing her head as she cried on to my chest, she felt my heart beat and closed her eyes.

"Sometimes Dean, I just close my eyes and listen to the wind and birds and how they are all free. Could you imagine being like that…free?"

"I do the same thing every night." I replied and she sat upright and stared longingly into my eyes. I returned the look. We sat there for a few minutes just looking at each other.

I grabbed her hand and we walked out of the back door of the building. We snuck into the forest and headed towards our waterfall. After a couple minutes of walking we reached a clearing. In the clearing was a short waterfall that fell into a crystal clear pool of water below, only to be disturbed by the ripples of insects landing on the water. The sun shone through the trees and we were far enough away from the camp to only be able to hear the birds singing to one another and the water hit the pool below. I pulled her close to me and held her tightly in my arms; she looked up to me as I moved in to kiss her, eyes closed, I took a deep breath and I felt her velveteen lips brush mine softly like a butterfly would to a flower. I broke away and glanced at her perfect face, and I saw her do the same. We kissed again, more passionately this time and for longer, I felt her warmth flow through my body and energise my spirit. Her lips merged with mine as we embraced each other. We released each other and lay down next to the pool and looked into the canopy of leaves above us.

"I love you Jane, and we are going to make it back home, I promise."

We headed back to the camp quickly so we wouldn't miss training and have to face the wroth of Hallard. The day continued with awkward silences of fear and target practice. Even when it came to hand to hand combat, which I was particularly good at, and I got to take my anger out on some poor bastard who had just been shipped over from home I couldn't get the fact that we weren't likely to survive this battle. No one thought we would, even Hallard who could fight off a pride of lions was in shock of our next mission. All I had left of what I had brought to this losing war was Jane and I wasn't willing to lose her to but I didn't have a choice when it came to whether we were fighting or not.

As the cold night drew close we sat around our fire with a beer, nothing was going to happen tonight and we celebrated life whilst we could. The platoon sang to the radio while Jane and I just lay down once again and listened to sweet nothings that we were afraid we would never hear again, be it whispers in each other's ears or the sound of crickets and insects in the jungle. As the singing continued we went and lay in our beds staring at the ceiling, tasting the bitter air and feeling the soft breeze roll through the door like a rabbit of refreshing cool running over our lips that had dried as the day had grown old. The night was the only time for peace for us, away from the rough voices and drunken men. The night was a safe haven that kept us at peace with our inner conscience.


End file.
